Weight has become a big issue in this country--no pun intended. Models are super skinny and Women are dying trying to be just a little thinner. At the same time obesity is reported as epidemic and weight loss gurus grow wealthier. Both conditions are detrimental to your health and both can cause health issues specific to women.
Learn your BMI
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measurement of body fat relative to height and weight. A Healthy BMI lies between 18.5 and 24.9. Under 18 is underweight and 25 to 30 is overweight. A BMI of over 30 is obese. There are free BMI calculators on the internet that are very easy to use. You put in your height and weight and it tells you your BMI. From there it's easy to see where you stand.
The trouble with being too thin
In spite of the old adage, you can be too skinny. If your BMI is under 18, you are too thin. Women who are underweight have less estrogen production. Sometimes their ovaries stop functioning altogether. Without ovarian function, pregnancy is impossible. If pregnancy does occur, the baby will take what it needs from you. If you are underweight to start with, it can put your pregnancy in danger as the baby tries to pull the nutrients from you that aren't there. Long-term, underweight women are at serious risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture.
Obesity has concerns specific to women

Obesity has become one of the greatest health crises in the U.S. today. A BMI of 25 or over means you're overweight and over 30 means you're obese. All overweight people, men and women, are at a greater risk of heart disease and diabetes. But women have concerns specific just to women. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women in the U.S. That only worsens with obesity. And on top of that, being overweight leads to increased insulin resistance and eventually diabetes. In the presence of insulin resistance, the ovaries will stop ovulating and develop polycystic ovarian syndrome. The fat cells actually produce estrogen. Without ovulation, there is no progesterone to keep the estrogen from being harmful. The high estrogen levels lead to overgrowth of the uterine lining and irregular, heavy vaginal bleeding. Over time, the risk for endometrial cancer grows. Again, without ovulation, pregnancy does not occur. If pregnancy does occur, insulin resistance can result in diabetes and any complications in labor can make for a difficult cesarean section and recovery. After menopause, the continued estrogen levels produced by the fat cells also results in an increased risk of ovarian and breast cancer. Any surgery and recovery for these conditions is complicated due to increased BMI.
A healthy diet--not dieting
As women, we need to be healthy to protect ourselves. That means maintaining a BMI between 18.5 and 25. You can't "go on a diet," you have to have a diet that you can go on. In other words, you have to Find a way to eat healthy and smart all the time. Crash dieting doesn't work because you just return to previous patterns eventually; they're not livable longterm. Always drastically dieting doesn't keep you healthy either. It has to become just a way of eating every day that shows respect for your body and your health. Throw in at least 30 minutes of exercise for 4 to 5 days per week and you'll start to achieve that healthy BMI. So go calculate your BMI and see where you stand. If you're in the healthy range, then keep up the good work--it's a lifetime endeavour! If you need to gain, find a healthy way to add some calories and weight. If you need to lose, find a way that you can live healthier for the rest of your life! Visit the Nutrition.gov website for detailed information about maintaining a healthy diet for you and your family


http://health.yahoo.net

For decades, we've measured the success of cancer treatment by statistically tracking the number of people who have been diagnosed with cancer (think of it as the denominator) and the number of people who survive their disease for some period of time (the numerator).
Though More women have become survivors of breast cancer over time, especially in the last decade or so, we need to expand our thinking a bit and consider exactly what surviving this disease means.
In the literal sense (and, yes, that's how the statisticians track this information--you are either dead or alive), what the survival stats don't tell us is how well women are living after a diagnosis of breast cancer.
My point? That surviving the disease is no longer enough. We must start looking at how enjoyable and rewarding that survival time is.
All told, I get more Than 200 emails a day from women with breast cancer, or from family members on their behalf, or from the handful of men who have been diagnosed or are fearful they are about to be. About a quarter of these emails and postings to the Hopkins website, however, happen to be from people whose acute stage of treatment (surgery, chemo, and radiation) is over and done with. The emails of these women who are done with treatment usually don't focus on the diagnosis of their disease or even on treatment; they want to know how and when they are going to start living well again, emotionally and physically.
Women who are still in the throes of the acute stage of this disease are usually so focused on getting rid of it (and who wouldn't be? so was I) that they don't have the time or energy to start thinking about the long-term side effects that might keep lingering on long after treatment is over.
But even once the acute phase of their treatment is completed, about 70 percent of these patients (those who are hormone-receptor positive) will probably still have to take hormonal therapy for another 5 years, longer than the acute treatment itself took. And this long-term hormonal therapy carries a whole new set of side effects that can really blight the quality of life.
And then there are the emotional side effects of having breast cancer and its treatments. Though oftentimes we think of a side effects as being a strictly physical phenomenon (hot flashes, neuropathies, problems with cognitive functioning), an emotional cost awaits survivors as well, which can be quite unrelated to the treatment or the stage of the disease. By this I mean the blows to her self image that the disease delivers, the ways she might now see the world differently, and the challenge of finding her "new normal."
Such emotional side effects, to one degree or another, will upset the sense of psychological wellbeing of virtually every person diagnosed with breast cancer. And yet these non-physical feelings can be hard to quantify and even harder for some family members (like spouses) to grasp. A husband, for example, might be ready to celebrate the long-awaited conclusion of his wife's treatment ordeal--but all she can do is cry and tell him she doesn't feel like celebrating. (She might Just be completely exhausted, or she might fear that celebrating will somehow jinx her and make the disease recur.)
This dread of a recurrence, by the way, either a local recurrence at the original site or a distant recurrence someplace else, is one of the most terrifying parts of breast cancer's emotional fallout. (In the minds of many breast-cancer survivors, a distant recurrence amounts to a virtual death sentence.)
Faced with this array of physical and emotional side effects, breast-cancer survivors are starting to speak up, and they're asking just how wonderful their lives are going to be after breast cancer. As a result, oncology specialists are listening and are calling for more research that's focused on the long-term side effects that so many survivors are suffering through. And researchers today are no longer satisfied to just continue devising better ways to teach patients how to cope, but are starting to look for ways to reduce and even reverse the suffering.
How can we support the women who are coming along behind us? What can we do to help encourage research in this arena? First, talk with your doctors about the quality-of-life issues you and so many other breast-cancer survivors face. Consider joining an advocacy organization, too, and bringing up these concerns in that arena. Ask if they'd consider joining up with researchers to take on the breast-cancer survivor's predicament.
Begin with yourself. Did you assume that when your treatment was completed you would resume your old life and be back to normal again in no time? Which of your present problems do you attribute to your breast-cancer treatment? Did these symptoms take you by surprise or did you know that you were likely going to experience some troubles and setbacks? Of all the physical side effects you've had, which is the most troublesome? And what psychological side effect troubles you the most?
Until we start asking such questions of ourselves, the 85 percent of breast-cancer patients who do survive this disease will continue to see their quality of life decline

source http://health.yahoo.net

Risks for Hypoglycemia

When your Blood glucose levels drop too low, you may feel dizzy, shaky, irritable, sweaty, confused. You may even pass out or have a seizure if low blood glucose is not treated. Some causes may be skipping meals, taking too much diabetes medication, needing a change in medication, or increased activity. My patients with diabetes often say “When my blood Sugar is low I just eat something” or “I get shaky because I have diabetes.” But this may not be correct. Let's look at the proper way to treat hypoglycemia.

Follow the “Rule of 15”
This easy to remember guidance, called the "Rule of 15,"can help keep you safe:
• When you feel symptoms of low glucose, check your blood sugar
• Take 15 grams of fast acting carbohydrate
• Wait 15 minutes; check your blood sugar again
• If glucose is greater than 70 mg/dL then have a snack or the meal you may have missed
• If glucose is still less than 70 mg/dL – then repeat the treatment
• If you still have low glucose after treating a third time then call 911
When you have low glucose you need to eat 15 grams of fast acting carbohydrate such as 4 ounces of juice or 3-4 glucose tablets. Having a candy bar or chocolate is not recommended. These have a high fat content that will increase glucose much more slowly. Instead you need a treatment that will work fast.
Preventing Hypoglycemia includes not skipping meals, talking to your healthcare provider about changes in your medication, and checking your blood sugar regularly
SOURCE : YAHOO HEALTH

You can barely drag yourself out of bed. Winter is gradually receding back into the closet of seasons once again, and you're painfully aware that spring is up next. You find the thought of facing another sunny, upbeat vernal equinox when nature bursts to life anew once more too depressing for words.
It's seasonal allergies. All of those beautiful, fragrant flowers and deep green grasses that allergy-free people just love to coo over and pick and prune literally make you sick. Springtime is when trees and plants spread their seeds -- at least the pollen that becomes seeds. And that pollen wreaks havoc on your body whenever you take a breath outside.
You're hardly alone. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates around 36 million people in the United States alone suffer from seasonal allergies, known also by the common name of hay fever and the more technical name allergic rhinitis [source: FDA]. It may not improve your mood to know this, but all that pollen is actually harmless. Those months of runny nose, scratchy eyes and headaches you endure each spring is actually the result of a case of mistaken identity. Your body mistakes pollen for damaging invaders like fungal spores and dust mites. This triggers the release of histamine, a natural chemical that's part of an immune system response. Histamine causes inflammation and irritation of soft tissue, which leads to your suffering [source: Bupa].